Archives for October 2017

The word is made up of the words, “hallow” and “ween.” Hallow means holy, sacred, greatly revered. Ween derives from the word between, i.e. “be it ween,” meaning the state of being that lies in the middle of two extremes. Thus, the word Halloween means a revered state of being that lies in the middle of two extremes.

At Halloween, we ask someone; “Who are you going to be?” So, a person decides to become a new personality by putting on a costume. While in costume the person occupies sacred ground, in-between who they want to be superimposed on who they actually are. In the definition of the word Halloween, they are in an in-between special state. We convince our children early on that the in-between ground is special. Costumed, they go door to door and receive a treat for being in-between who they are and who they want to be. If the person who answers the door shows disrespect for their “in-betweeness,” by not forking over a reward, they are subject to penalty. Thus, the saying, “trick or treat.”

I wonder, shouldn’t we all try to find hallowed ground once Halloween is over? The Bible opens with Genesis 1:1; “In the beginning…” Duality was introduced into the world when the beginning began. Two is found to be greater than one, higher is better than lower, more better than less, par is better than bogey, success is measured by the size of the home and the cost of the car, left is different than right and male is different than female. These are all conditions imposed on us when the beginning began.

But, what we call “in the beginning” is actually the end of the reality that existed before the beginning began. I call this forgotten place the kingdom of God. To me, life is about returning to the “pre-beginning reality” because that is where we find connection with God. It is a struggle because of societal demands that are based on duality. Peace and bliss is found by balancing who we have to be respecting our responsibilities in a dualistic world against who, deep down inside, we want to be; a resident in God’s non-dual kingdom.Those who can find balance are in hallowed ground.

Rainbow body is unique to the Nyingma tradition, one of four Tibetan Buddhist schools of thought. Nyingma is a strain of the ancient Bön (sometimes Bönpo) religion, the indigenous religion of Tibet before the infusion of Buddhism in the eighth century. The practice of Dzogchen is a central feature of the Nyingma school and is known to produce rainbow body, something the other schools do not. Here we can connect the physical dissolution of the body with the mental state that is required to bring it about and, in the process, fundamentally alter the way we perceive reality.

Figure I

Dzogchen practitioners seek to realize true nature of mind. True nature of mind is not something one must acquire. It is latently present in every living human being. The problem is that mind’s true nature is blanketed and compromised with the human desire for a material existence, manifest in the seemingly unending quest for comfort, pleasure and security.True nature of mind is the subtle, intangible, ineffable underpinning behind all phenomena.If Figure I, for example, represents true nature of mind, smooth and uncorrupted, then Figure II is how it appears when thoughts of materiality arise. The lumps represent the elemental building materials that mother nature and man’s ingenuity and skill set use to make the physical stuff we call reality. The objective of Dzogchen is to get rid of the lumps, so to speak.

Figure II

Look at it this way. The creation story, Genesis 1, starts, “In the beginning, when God created…” True nature of mind is the primordial condition that existed before the “beginning” began. That is, there is a universal, undisturbed mind of which we are all apart. Material existence is an individualized aspect of that primordial mind, fashioned into people and things, causing the perception of separateness. The objective of Dzogchen for the individual is to return to the primordial state, i.e. the state that existed before the word “beginning,” and return to the primordial mind. So, when we speak of true nature of mind we are referencing an uncorrupted (primordial) universal mind (the true nature) and an individualized mind (the corrupted, individualized, version of the primordial mind.)

Recall the principle of duality of matter discussed in earlier blogs. All matter has a dual nature. It is either particle—a solid, pellet kind of thing. Or it is wave, a subtle, intangible, ineffable state of existence. Wave then is reflective of true nature of mind; the natural state of all sensory perceptions. In other words, all material phenomena, by nature, are empty of existence.But, materially ordered thoughts mess up the naturalness and add lumpiness and individualization.

The human agency called self is a major issue in Dzogchen. Self will be discussed in future blogs. For now, it is the part of being that causes us to think we are different than the person (or objects) standing next to us. In Dzogchen,the emptiness (wave or true nature of mind) that is the natural, connected oneness of everything cannot co-exist with the notion of self which stresses the differences in everything. Recognition of the inherent emptiness of everything (primordial mind—not lumpiness) and the elimination of self then are the major issues in Dzogchen.

The word “recognition” in the above paragraph means more than intellectual understanding. It means experiencing it through action which leads to detachment. Ascetic, meditative lifestyles that center around selflessness are the most prevalent traits of rainbow body adepts. The practitioners engage in deep, prolonged, meditation practices in to absorb the teaching of emptiness and the need for cessation of attention to self. The meditation typically takes place in remote hermitages, far removed from society.Practitioners, ever aware of the pitfalls of karma, live under a high moral imperative to avoid otherwise being blown off course by karmic influence.The practice is conducted under the watchful guidance of an accomplished Master who guides his student through the learning process.

Previous posts addressed the wave/particle dual nature of the atom, making note of its responsiveness to human intent. The atom’s natural state is wave (subtle, intangible and ineffable) but manifests as particle (obvious, tangible and understandable) when a human so intends. This strange behavior is typically demonstrated in the laboratory using photons (light particles created by a laser pointer) as surrogate for the atom. A laser generated dot on the wall, it is claimed, is where it is because that is where the holder of the laser device intended for it to be, not because that is where the laser was aimed. This blog further clarifies the role of human consciousness in the atom’s wave/particle behavior. The exercise involves demonstrating what happens when one points the laser device at a wall without intending for the photons to land where the device is pointed.

The withdrawal of intent for the photons to be at a particular location is accomplished by inserting an impassible filter in the photon path; impassible except for two,tiny, side by slits cut in it (see above).The slits give the photons options. They can pass through the left one or the right one. Normally one would expect to find two spots on the trailing wall. One behind the left slit, one behind the right. But, that is not the case. The pattern on the wall reflects wave behavior (see below). The photons spread themselves out over an expanse. And, the farther away the filter is from the wall, the more spread out the photons become. It is as if a dialogue is taking place between the photons and the holder of the laser device. The conversation goes like this. The holder says to the photons, “I don’t really care where you land on the wall; left or right, it’s up to you.” The photons respond, “Thank you very much. But, if you do not have a preference than we will stay in our natural wave state.” In other words, as they photons approach the wall, they know the intent of the holder.

Now, mainstream science will certainly object to this interpretation of the double-slit experiment. In the objection, they overlook the work of Dr. Dean Radin, a senior researcher at the paranormal think tank, The Institute of Noetic Sciences. Dr. Radin’s work shows beyond any doubt that experienced meditators, through intent, can reduce the spreadoutedness of the pattern on the wall, making the photon stream more compact, more particle-like than it otherwise would be. Non-meditators cannot accomplish the compaction nor can robots programmed with artificial intelligence; only human beings experienced in meditation.

The implications of this experiment are astonishing. They will be covered in future blogs. But, for now, atoms cannot exist in particle form unless human consciousness intends for them to exist in particle form.

The atom is the window to reality. And why not. Everything is made of atoms. Why would one ever expect reality to be different than the things it is made of? Understand the atom and you will, at first, be troubled. You will be troubled because it makes no sense; it can’t possibly be. Then, later, after pondering, you will be amazed. You will be amazed when you find that, that which can’t possibly be is, in fact, possible. Once you are amazed you will know. You will know something that can’t be unknown and will proceed confidently through life with a certain bulletproofness and a certain swagger because you know something that most do not know. You will realize that perception and understanding are two different things.

Comment on reality by Albert Einstein. “Beyond all the visible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable.”

As posted in earlier blogs, what causes the atom to revert to its natural state of nothingness (i.e. wave)? It happens when the human ceases to pay attention to it. What was the mindset of Jesus and the rainbow body adepts? They were totally selfless people; they ceased paying attention to themselves. They recognized that matter duality is the controlling principle of reality, that emptiness is primordial and lived accordingly in selfless lives? Cessation of attention to self? Cessation of attention to the atom? Both produce disembodiment; one on a human scale the other on an atomic scale. Could this be a coincidence? I don’t think so.